Burning of the Mills, 1814

Burning of the Mills, 1814. . , With the British loss at the Battle of Lake Erie in September of 1813, supplies could no longer be brought by boat to Forts Detroit and Malden on the Detroit River. With many Native Allies to feed, the British were forced to withdraw along the Long Woods Road towards Burlington Heights, near present-day Hamilton. The British endured yet another loss at the Battle of the Thames in October of 1813 during which Tecumseh was killed, ending the Native resistance to American settlement south of the Great Lakes., The west end of Upper Canada was now open to raiding by American forces aided by rebels who had turned on their former neighbours. Many of the raids focused on the settlements near Port Talbot where Col. Talbot lived. His settlers lost personal possessions as well as their crops and livestock, taken to supply troops on the Detroit frontier. Among the targets on these raids were the few flour mills in the region. The mills supplied flour used in the production of bread needed to feed the army. Burning the mills made it harder for the settlers and the British Army to obtain food., On September 19, 1814, Talbot's mill at Port Talbot was burned and all that remained were the mill stones and some metal fittings. Talbot offered to give the material including the stones to Peter McKellar, if he would build a mill at Sixteen Mile Creek: The McKellar mill operated from 1821 until the 1890s when it was demolished. One of the stones was later used to support a barn on the farm of Duncan and Angus Gray.